Actors Corbin Bernsen and Amanda Pays took a hands-on approach to renovating and decorating their Southern California home, instilling personality through architectural salvage and vintage bargains.

The Real Deal

The Real Deal

"Family is important to us. It's the center of everything we do," says actor Corbin Bernsen. By "we," he means himself and his wife, Amanda Pays. "Everything" very much includes their Studio City, California, home, a 3,500 square foot 1940s ranch house.

Long before Corbin became famous playing cad-about-town Arnie Becker on the television show L.A. Law (he's currently on Psych), he worked as a carpenter. Amanda, whom you might remember from Max Headroom and Oxford Blues, gave up acting to focus on raising the couple's four children: Oliver, 24; twins Angus and Henry, 21; and 14-year-old Finley. With the kids mostly grown, she's turned her attention to a career in interior design.

In this photo: Steel chairs from ABC Home contrast with a massive century-old mahogany dining table, now pickled a paler hue. Amanda bought the lamps—repurposed chicken feeders—at Cisco Home, and the metal wine rack at the Rose Bowl Flea Market. The walls are painted Plaster of Paris by Sydney Harbour. Digby, a whippet, has been part of the family for three years.

Kitchen

Kitchen

Amanda gets full credit for reimagining this property's covered patio area as a sprawling, raftered kitchen. It is, in her husband's proud estimation, "the heart of the home." He's right. The kitchen serves as the hub from which the house's layout, and its aesthetic, flows. In this room, reclaimed barn wood bumps against stainless steel, and an antique mahogany table mingles with midcentury metal school chairs. The backsplash of Moroccan tiles hints at the family's exotic travels, while Amanda's British upbringing reveals itself in ceramics gathered during European vacations. She painted the graphic lemon artwork herself.

In this photo: Kitchen cabinets are clad in reclaimed barn wood and topped with poured-concrete counters. A stainless steel worktable provides extra prep and storage space. Shelves of cast-off scaffolding flank the backsplash. The Kenmore refrigerator and Jenn-Air stove are from Sears.